With so many social media platforms available, and more popping up every day, it’s important to know which ones will actually benefit your business.

According to statistics provided by Hootsuite, here are some general social media statistics from 2023:
• Over 75% of the world’s population aged 13+ uses social media
• Over 93% of Internet users are social media users
• 76% of North Americans use social media
• The USA dips slightly below the average worldwide time spent on social, with an average of 2 hours and 11 minutes per day
• Men aged 55-64 are the demographic that uses social media the least
• Women aged 16-24 years old use social media the most, spending an average of 3 hours and 10 minutes per day on social media
• The main reasons people use social media is to stay in touch with friends and family, fill spare time, and read the news

It’s essential to get a good return on your investments, which includes your time, so you should focus on two or three social media platforms to interact with the individuals on who fall within your target markets. That way, you can engage with your audience so you gain the benefits of using social media for marketing. If you spread yourself too thin, your message will be lost in the noise or appear inauthentic. If you blanket market, you won’t get good results, just wasting valuable time.

Utilizing these four profile types, you can effectively reach a wide range of audiences. You should be consistent in your posting habits, have photos at the ready so you aren’t scrambling for content when the appropriate times to post will best reach your audience. Being prepared will let your customers know that you care about the way you present your business and lead to a higher-quality social media presence. This increases the number of people who want to follow you and engage with your content.

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Which social media sites are the best for business marketing?

Facebook and Instagram are the most common combination that works best to build up a solid social media presence for most businesses. People talk a lot about Pinterest, but it’s value for marketing is only appropriate for businesses who sell products or services to women and can post photos of what they do that could go on a vision board since that is what the platform is. 69% of online shoppers who use Meta platforms weekly made purchases after seeing personalized content on Facebook or Instagram.

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FACEBOOK

A Facebook page is a great way to engage with your customer base in real time. When you post something, people can respond to it immediately, leave comments, raise concerns, and even start conversations. As the business owner, you’ll be able to jump into those threads and converse with your customers and potential customers on topics that are important to them. Building your brand’s personality creates a more personal relationship with your audience. You can share ideas, photos and updates about your business while posting across a wide range of categories, with post styles that are proven effective at building interest in your company.

US aged 25-34 spend 33 minutes on Facebook daily, messaging with family and friends.
66% of them visit a local business page at least once per week.
Almost 58% of the world’s Internet users use Facebook at least once a month.

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Over 77% of Facebook users also use Instagram.

Just over 67% of Facebook users log onto the site daily.

66% of Facebook users visit a local business page at least once a week.

57.8% of the world’s total Internet users use Facebook monthly.

56.6% of Facebook users worldwide are male, 43.4% are female.

Almost 20% of Facebook’s worldwide users are men aged 25-34.

Women aged 13-17 are Facebook’s lowest demographic of users across the globe.

In the US, people aged 25-34 use Facebook more than any other age group.

The primary reason people use Facebook is to message friends and family.

The average US user spends 33 minutes per day on Facebook.

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INSTAGRAM

If you use an Instagram page to market your business, it’s important to think about the layout and look of your grid. Instagram also allows for influencer marketing, which can benefit the right type of industry.

59% of the US 50.7% men and 49.3% women ages 18-34 use Instagram daily to watch videos and 90% of them follow a business then 50% of them visit a brand’s website referred from Instagram.

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91% of active Instagram users say that they watch videos on the platform weekly.

90% of Instagram users follow a business.

70% of users are open to seeing ads when watching video on Instagram.

62.3% of Instagram users worldwide say they use the platform to follow or research brands and products.

59% of US adults use Instagram daily.

Over half of Instagram users interact with a Reel at least once a week.

Reels make up more than half of content re-shared through Instagram direct messages.

Men 50.7% / Women 49.3% ages 18-34.

50% of Instagram users say that they’ve visited a brand’s website after viewing their Stories.

Ads on Instagram are most likely to reach men and women between the ages of 18-34.

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TWITTER

Twitter is a niche social media app that is losing momentum. Twitter is much lower on the list than Facebook and Instagram for marketing because it is not as effective for many types of businesses to gain customers.

23% of US 28-43, mostly Democrats, spending 1.17 hours per week on Twitter for entertainment, to stay informed, and to express their own opinions.

Twitter is more popular with Millennials (28-43) than Gen Z’ers (18-27).
Millennial: born 1980-1995 (80 million US)
Gen Z: born 1996-mid 2000s (90 million US)

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82% of high-volume Twitter users say they use the platform for entertainment.

A 2021 Statista study found that 82% of frequent Tweeters use Twitter for entertainment.

78% said they use the micro-blogging platform as a way to stay informed.

77% said they used Twitter as a way to express their opinions.

23% of US adults use Twitter.

Twitter drives only 9% of web traffic referrals.

Users spend an average of 5.1 hours per month on Twitter.

American Twitter users are more likely to be Democrats than Republicans.

The number of Twitter users worldwide is expected to decrease by 5.1% in 2024.

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LINKEDIN

LinkedIn is a networking site for business-to-business marketing that has a social aspect to it. Even if you are not selling B2B, your business should be listed on LinkedIn and you should have a personal LinkedIn page that lists things from your resume. People will look you and your business up even if you don’t utilize the social media aspects of LinkedIn.

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YOUTUBE

If making videos is appropriate for the type of business you own, YouTube is the way to go. Videos of activities like cleaning carpets, detailing cars, making products, etc have gone viral because they are satisfying to watch and the end result is worth sticking around for.

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TIK TOK

TikTok offers businesses a way to create and deploy extremely short video content in a more casual environment. TikTok lends itself well to brand-building and audience engagement, rather than direct sales, if your audience likes TikTok. Much like Instagram, consistency in tone and style of content is key to building a loyal followership. Tik Tok is all the rage right now, but the audience is very young and heavily Asian, so it may not accomplish your marketing goals, if you aren’t selling something that they will be interested in.

Females aged 12-24 spend under 46 minutes per day on Tik Tok watching funny or entertaining 3 second vertical videos.

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The average US user spends nearly 46 minutes per day on TikTok, which is about even with YouTube.

81% of TikTok users also use Instagram.

61% of TikTok’s user base identifies as female.

In the US, people between the ages of 12 and 24 account for 41.6%, or nearly half, of TikTok’s users.

Only 21% of American adults use TikTok.

The primary reason people use TikTok is to look for funny or entertaining content.

63% of TikTok ads with the highest CTR share their message within the first 3 seconds.

Vertical TikTok videos shot have a 25% higher watch-through rate.

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GOOGLE +

Google+ offers some search engine optimization benefits, including getting your business listed on the map and it has a social media aspect, but it is rarely used. The biggest reasons to be active on Google are to get and respond positively to all reviews, keep your business profile and map listing updated, and run the Analytics reports for your website. Google Ads is also extremely popular and can be successful for Pay-Per-Click advertising, if your ads, positive and negative keywords, and calls to action are set up effectively, although it can be expensive, especially if not managed properly.

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SEO FOR SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING